Gore Vidal is a true “celebrity,” that is, ‘someone who is well known for being well known.’ If he shows at a 5th Avenue soiree, he counts double among the guest-list luminaries because, in addition to being a celebrity, he also is an intellectual.

Merriam-Webster defines an intellectual as one who is “devoted to matters of the mind, especially arts and letters.”

Note however, that being an intellectual does not necessarily qualify one as being intelligent. The same dictionary (no doubt consulted on occasion by Mr. Vidal, since he has written a few forgettable books) defines intelligence as “…having the power of reflection or reason;…not stupid or foolish.”

Juxtaposing these definitions, it is clear that Mr. Vidal is an intellectual but that he is not at all intelligent. Why? Because when asked by an interviewer from The Atlantic about the Roman Polanski festouche Mr. Vidal said, “I really don’t give a fuck. Look, am I going to sit and weep every time a young hooker feels as though she’s been taken advantage of?”

Our intellectual continues, trying to explain why poor Roman is in all this trouble in the first place. “The media can’t get anything straight. Plus, there’s usually an anti-Semitic and anti-fag thing going on with the press – lots of crazy things. The idea that this girl was in her communion dress, a little angel all in white, being raped by this awful Jew, Polacko – that’s what people were calling him – well, the story is totally different now from what it was then.”

Christ, Gore, you’re giving intellectuals everywhere a bad name. Polanski is not in trouble because he is a Jew, he’s not in trouble because he’s a fag, and he’s not in trouble because the girl was some Sunset Boulevard tramp who just happened to be on her way to communion.

POLANSKI IS IN JAIL BECAUSE THE GIRL WAS 13!!. Can you spell “Jail Bait?”

To an intellectual, sex with a 13-year-old is perfectly OK. To someone who is intelligent (i.e., “…not stupid or foolish…”) it is rape.

I don’t care if this girl had been turning tricks for Hollywood pederasts since she was six, Polanski should have known better than to go anywhere near her, no matter how uncontrollable his libido. She was 13!

She Told Me She Was 15!

Then, the cops find out and next you know, the oh-so-talented Mr. Polanski is looking at doing hard time in a California prison for rape. So what does he do? He leaves the United States before he can be sentenced and hides behind the skirts of the French and other complicit “intellectuals” for 32 years.

I really hope he rots in prison. Switzerland is OK but Lompoc with a roommate named “Big J” would be even better.